The .30-06…the king of cartridges is it fading to the sidelines?

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Risky buisness said:
Being of the age where I was invented before the wonder rifle cartridge phase i find no real application of the current newest bestis cartridges that cannot be filled very well by the calibers i frequent. 30-06, 308, 30-30 .270, 243, and .222.
In acknowledgement of cheap cases a 5.56 could also be included.
So, will or have my match scores been affected, from my M1A in 308 vs a 5.56 could be. Or my M1 being not quite as accurate as some other choice?
Could be. So what. If a varmint walks away, ok
not usually but its certainly not the cartridges fault.
And realistically after 50 years of hunting I dont recall losing any. Well, archery, but that's a different story. Marketing drives newer, better faster, some advances are indeed worthwhile, powder and projectile technology have increased the viability of the older cartridges and set up new ones to be successful. But to relegate a certain ________ fill in the blank to obscurity is not beneficial.
I dont think we can always look to engineering to take the human factor out of rifle shooting. The cartridge is mearly a tool, its way more about the craftsman
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I wonder how many read this and get what "Risky buisness" said. Well put Risky.
 
.308 Norma said:
No I can't. I've "killed" steel animals - lots and lots of them. It's not as much fun (for me at least) as hunting - even when "hunting" doesn't result in any killing.;)
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To each their own, I get it I once did it....then my life changed and I did not want to kill anymore....really anything. Mice/rats and starlings are really the only thing that I will remove, starlings are air rats to me, nothing but nasty diese filled trash and not native to us in the first place.

You say when the "hunting" does not result in any killing, there came a time when I sat out there in a tree, watched a big....and I am talking BIG buck walk not 20 yards away, this was really a once and a lifetime deal he was just that perfect. And I looked at him, and just let him go. I sat there and really just came unglued, there was a man that told me once you take all the things you did, lock it away in a little box tuck it in the corner of your brain and toss the key. It worked for quite a while, but when that lock failed it really failed.

This can hit many people in different ways, some become homeless, get divorced, drink, even hit the off switch, it has happened to many people around my age that had like experiences. The thing that hit me is I don't want to ever kill again, I am not sure how my mind works around the mice and starlings but it does.

I can walk and have walked out back to my shooting area, sat a single shot 22lr down on my bench and just sat there, like I said looking at the trees and listening to the wind....you can feel everything be taken away by the wind.
I have even been back there shooting, something big I don't remember and have had deer come up behind me in the brush....scare the hell out of me, and I would sit there and look at her, and she would look at me. Minutes ago loud booms going on, and there she was. Turkey on my berm.

That was a long babble.

But where I was trying to go was there are so many things we can do with these evil guns that do not center around killing. I love "killing" little orange frizbees flying through the air, great fun. I love killing steel animals. The anti gun world needs to know that even hand guns have a use past killing.

sorry bout that.
 
Now everybody knows the 6.5 Crudmore is the new king of the hill. Better than the 7mm the 06 even the 375 and at a 1000 yards no less. Come on guys get with the times. Gulp.
 
Remington1911 said:
Funny thread, I just watched this last night.

Not sure what I think of this guy yet.



My two bits, people get emotional when talking about cartridges, easy I get it. 3006, is a hard hitting cartridge both down range and in your shoulder. If you just want to poke a hole in paper there are other things that will do it better, If you want to kill this that or the other there are also "better" choices out there. Will it do it, sure. But if starting out fresh I don't think it is the thing people are going for, and this is why you see it in decline.

As to 308, same deal, other things do it better, it has current military use behind it however, and that makes a big difference to a specific group of people.
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The 30-06 and the 30.06 short (.308) The 100+ year old 30-06 is the right choice IMO. I have both calibers.
 
I have my '06 and it is one rifle I love to shoot, including target shooting. I'll continue with it until I can't anymore, then it'll get passed down along with ammo.
I also have a 6.5 Creedmoor and love shooting it, actually I love all of my guns and there ain't enough time to enjoy them all as much as I want. Either way I will be addicted to the 30-06 for good.
 
For an all around rifle, I find .30-06 Springfield hard to beat. However, I'm getting older (not so gracefully) and it kicks pretty hard. Harder than it used to kick, it seems. So I've moved down a notch to the 7x57mm and .257 Roberts. The rifles aren't so heavy and the recoil isn't so bad and I do not anticipate looking for big ugly bears or anything in Africa.

But I am in favor of the .30-06.
 
I would never say it's been a KING for 3/4 of a century. The grand dad to many but not a king because too many perform just as well or better that have been around for many decades.
 
The .30-06 is as capable today as it has ever been; more capable, probably, given developments in powder and projectiles. But its share of total sales is in decline because of the proliferation and growth of other cartridges, many optimized to applications the .30-06 is only fair at. It is and will continue to be a great cartridge, but it is no longer of interest to many.

I put myself in the latter category. I took my first whitetail many years ago with my father-in-law's Remington 760 in .30-06. He eventually gave me that gun. I added a couple more .30 calibers including a bolt action in .30-06, a .300 Win Mag and a couple of .308s. My go-to hunting rifle for many years was a Remington Model 7 in .308. The .300 Win Mag was the first .30 cal cartridge I got rid of; I had no real application for it and I didn't like the sharp recoil. Next to go was the .30-06, as I had no application for it that the .308 couldn't handle. Finally, the .308 left as my interest in 6, 6.5, and 7mm cartridges grew (I did add a .375 Ruger for anything needing something larger than a 7mm).

The .30-06 wasn't even my FIL's first choice. I got to use his because he was using his favorite: a 7mm Rem Mag.
 
My son and I went on our first elk hunt last fall using an outfitter north of Yellowstone. First day everyone does the sight in and gets to know each other. Two of the guys show up in all the latest Sitka and two new Fierce carbon fiber rifles in 30 PRC with tactical scopes. We show up dressed in our deer hunting garb with my son's Savage in 300 WM and my Tikka 30-06, both with Leupold hunting scopes. You may already know where this is going. :D The first guy barely clipped the neck on his bull while the other wounded his and never found it while we both made tougher shots and put ours down on the spot. (My son used the side of a tree for a rest and I had a fallen log with both of our shots over 300 yards.) Both of them were super nice guys so it was horrible to see the second guy have his hunt end that way. It was my biggest nightmare going in and it could just as easily have been me instead of him. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with a 30 PRC or high end gear but as is often said, shot placement is king. It just seems that with today's highly capable whizz bang cartridges and modern equipment that the old 30-06 can be dismissed as less than capable. Don't believe it. For the vast majority of us that aren't going to take shots over 400 or 500 yards I think there are other variables that are much more important. I'll take the more common cartridge that I can afford to practice with ahead of anything else. Once you're sighted in, forget the bench and do your shooting from less than ideal situations and shoot. Even if you reload as I do it's still cheaper to shoot something like a 30-06 than the bigger rounds. BTW way, our outfitter's favorite round?? 30-06. :D
 
Eagle103 said:
My son and I went on our first elk hunt last fall using an outfitter north of Yellowstone. First day everyone does the sight in and gets to know each other. Two of the guys show up in all the latest Sitka and two new Fierce carbon fiber rifles in 30 PRC with tactical scopes. We show up dressed in our deer hunting garb with my son's Savage in 300 WM and my Tikka 30-06, both with Leupold hunting scopes. You may already know where this is going. :D The first guy barely clipped the neck on his bull while the other wounded his and never found it while we both made tougher shots and put ours down on the spot. (My son used the side of a tree for a rest and I had a fallen log with both of our shots over 300 yards.) Both of them were super nice guys so it was horrible to see the second guy have his hunt end that way. It was my biggest nightmare going in and it could just as easily have been me instead of him. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with a 30 PRC or high end gear but as is often said, shot placement is king. It just seems that with today's highly capable whizz bang cartridges and modern equipment that the old 30-06 can be dismissed as less than capable. Don't believe it. For the vast majority of us that aren't going to take shots over 400 or 500 yards I think there are other variables that are much more important. I'll take the more common cartridge that I can afford to practice with ahead of anything else. Once you're sighted in, forget the bench and do your shooting from less than ideal situations and shoot. Even if you reload as I do it's still cheaper to shoot something like a 30-06 than the bigger rounds. BTW way, our outfitter's favorite round?? 30-06. :D
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It really does come down to the "Indian vs the arrow", but if I have a choice I want the best freakin arrow possible for the task at hand. The problem isn't the equipment, it's always not putting in the time practicing and attempting to use equipment to make up for a lack of skill. That happens with precision gear and average hunting equipment.

I see the same thing during matches and defensive classes, guys show up with their newest "X", untested, untried and then "Murphy" pounces on them. I have guys out frequently, with some high dollar chit, but they've never worked a ballistic app, nor do they know how to use a reticle.

In your scenario for instance, a guy that's practiced and has learned his equipment will have a distinct advantage with the "high tech" stuff if the shot comes at a longer distance. Because that "stuff", in the right hands, enables shot placement with greater certainty.
 
d2wing said:
I suppose it would be the go to for shooting something 1400 yards away. Outside my interest but a good cartridge.
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You stated that Level 4 body armor will stop 3 rounds of .308 but only one round of .30-06. My question is how many rounds of .300 win mag will it stop?
 
d2wing said:
Say what you want, level 4 body armor will stop 3 rounds of 308, only 1 30-06. Almost as good doesn't count.
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The NIJ standard never stipulates 308 Win or 30.06. It stipulates a bullet type and velocity. For Level III they require a FMJ M80 bullet commonly found in 7.62 NATO ammo. For Level IV armor the bullet specified is the hardened core AP bullet common found in 30.06 M2 AP ammunition. In both cases that armor must be able to stop the specified bullet type when it impacts at the specified velocity. The cartridge that launches the bullet is completely irrelevant assuming it meet the velocity requirements.

Leve III is a 147 gr M80 bullet at 2780 +/- 30 fps
Level IV is a 166gr M2 AP bullet at 2880 +/- 30 fps

Level IV armor is not tested with M80 bullets at all for NIJ certification.
 
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I carry my 06 to the woods every fall. I'm into my 4th decade of ownership and I still feel like it is a good choice. I've hunted MI, and I've hunted WY. As someone said there might be a better choice, but an 06 is never a bad choice. It was my first center fire rifle so I'll likely never part with it.

-Jeff
 
Level IV is tested by being shot with 30-06 M2 AP ammo. That is according to several websites. Not interested in splitting hairs with unpleasant persons.
 
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